#Official Commentary of Elena Melnick on price of non-visa regime for Ukraine

06.04.2017

On April 6, the Ukrainian news feed is filled with joy: the European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved the cancellation of visas for Ukraine.

President Petro Poroshenko, without hiding his joy, began to congratulate his citizens on such wonderful news. It is not important that 90% of Ukrainians will not be able to use visa-free travel to Europe and, to be sure, it is expensive for them to travel across their own country. It doesn’t matter that they need to collect twice as many documents to travel, to have a medical certificate and a biometric passport. It is irrelevant that the Ukrainians have received the cancellation of visas for short-term travel and business travel for a term not exceeding of 90 days. It’s nothing. Now the Ukrainians are clearly aware that Maidan was not wasted. And the price that Ukraine paid for the visa-free regime and this is tens of thousands people maimed by the war, hundreds of demolished houses, has been paid for good reason. That is what the Ukrainian President and his comrades decided.

However, Petro Poroshenko missed one important point: once visas are cancelled, he will have to find a new detail to distract the population from the real problems in the country. But I’m sure that Petro Poroshenko can handle it, because he has no equal in mistaking the wish for the reality and Ukrainians are the most grateful listeners.